


A Gift

by writeitininkorinblood



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, love potion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 07:12:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14303553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writeitininkorinblood/pseuds/writeitininkorinblood
Summary: Jester found a pretty bottle at The Invulnerable Vagrant...





	A Gift

When a small, springy blue tiefling skipped up to him and held out a small bottle of pink liquid, Fjord was understandably apprehensive. Jester was grinning widely, which was never a sign of anything good, and seemed to have purposely caught him alone. Although Fjord left his door in Caleb’s magic mansion open while he cleaned his armour, it was more of a gesture of good faith than an actual invitation. Evidently that wasn’t clear.

“Jester, what's that?” he asked carefully. Whatever the liquid was, it was fizzing away unassumingly, but it was the most innocent looking things that you had to watch out for.

“A present,” Jester sang, pushing it forward into Fjord’s hands and looking far too mischievous.

Turning the bottle over, Fjord tried to work out what he was holding, since it was obvious Jester wasn’t going to tell him. It was only in his careful investigations that he noticed the small heart shaped bubble in the middle of the liquid.

“Shit. Is this a love potion?” he asked, eyes wide as he looked up at Jester.  

“Maybe,” she laughed, shrugging.

Fjord groaned. Love potions were dangerous. Love potions were not toys. They took choice away from whoever drank them, and that wasn’t fair.

“Jester!” he scolded.

Pouting, she crossed her arms and huffed. She had thought it was a pretty bottle when she’d found it in Pumat Sol’s shop and, as soon as she had learned that the liquid inside was even more interesting, she’d immediately handed over the gold. It wasn’t a potion she needed for herself, so she’d spent a couple of days trying to work out who would benefit from it most. And she knew one man who had been pining for months.

“I thought it would be useful,” she explained.

Fjord narrowed his eyes. There were a lot of schemes Jester could have in mind involving a love potion and he knew none of them would be good for anyone involved.

“What for?” he tried cautiously.

“Caleb,” she said simply, a small smile creeping through.

Going completely still, Fjord swallowed. He had trying to pretend that his feelings for Caleb weren’t there, and he certainly hadn’t been sharing news of them. The fact that Jester knew worried him, but the idea of sneaking a love potion into Caleb’s drink made him sick. He obviously liked the idea of everything he felt being reciprocated, just not like that. Never like that.

“Well, firstly that ain't your business,” Fjord said, clearing his throat awkwardly. “And second, Caleb deserves better.”

He threw the bottle down onto the bed beside him, hating touching it and not about to hand it back over. He didn’t trust Jester with it.

“Don't put yourself down, Fjord!” she protested, sitting down and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Not better than me,” Fjord explained, before reconsidering. The words of his patron echoed in his brain. _provoke, consume._ Caleb was worthy of so much more. “Well, maybe, yeah. But I meant better than a stupid love potion. If he ever... wants me, then it should be of his own volition.”

Sensing his cheeks were heating up, he looked back down at the armour draped over his lap. Talking about Caleb like this was new and very little made him more uncomfortable. Jester seemed to finally understand and sighed heavily.

“If you change your mind,” she said, gesturing to the bottle before leaving it and Fjord behind in the room, poking her head back round the frame for a moment to shout “you’re welcome for the present!”

For a few moments, he stared at the potion. It was a tempting for a second at most, but all he could see was the horrified look on Caleb’s face after the effects wore off and he realised how much he’d been taken advantage of, how much his trust had been violated. Fjord could never do it. Instead he uncorked the bottle and turned it upside down outside of the window, emptying it into the alley below. If Caleb ever loved him, a potion was going to have nothing to do with it.


End file.
